E 
4-53 



SLAVERY. 



ITS 



ORIGIN, INFLUENCE, AND DESTINY. 



I Y 



THEOPHILUS PARSONS. 



SECOND EDITION 



BOSTON: 

wii.i . I A M OARTEB AND BROTHER, 

.1 HMO ii 

L868. 





Gass__LAi5. 
Book- .T 2- 11 



SLAVERY. 



ii- 



ORIGIN, INFLUENCE, AND DESTINY. 






Til EOPB 1 LUS PARSONS. 



BOS i ON: 

WILLIAM CARTER AND BROTHER, 

L 8 6 



.'■ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, 

By Theophilus Paksons, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



BOSTON: 
CHAS. H. CROSBY, PRINTER, 5 & 7 WATER STREET. 



SLAVERY. 



There are Done who deny thai Blavery, in Borne way, 
and in some sense, is the principal cause <>t' our ■■i\il 
war. For they who — abroad or at hom< — allege that 
ii is caused by th<' actual and profound diversity between 
the two Bections of the country as t<> their interests, their 
habits, and their character, do not deny thai this diversity 
Bprings mainly from the existence of Blavery in one « • 1 1 1 \- 
of the parties. And they who account for it by the 
and persistent vehemence of abolitionism, will not deny 
that if there were no Blavery t<> be abolished there could 
be ii" abolitionism. It is not 1 worth while t<> 

ii-.- many words in proving a fact, which the map of our 
country demonstrate 

But it' it be certain that - - the 

central cause of the «'i\il war. it i- \>\ do men 
how, or why, this cause has produced this eflR I I 

offer for consideration the views I hold on this subject, 
it i- because in this country public opinion is a 
power, and th»- humblest effort to introduce int<» thi> 
opinion what seems to the offerer an element <'t" truth, 
Diay at least be pardon* d. 

What thru i- Slavery? It- foundation i- the power 
of controlling any man without his consent and concur- 
rence. The absolute ownership by one man <-t' another 
man as it exists a1 the South, is only the perfection 
and consummation of this principle. There are • 
where immaturity demands guida crime des< 

punishment. Putting tit jide, wherever 1 1 1 i — 

principle exists and operates, and in whatever 
exists, there is that which may !»<• called the 

.We are accustomed t<> confine the nam.- t" 
absolute ownership. Nor do 1 insist that the use of the 



4 SLAVERY. 

•word slavery should be extended, if only I am understood 
as believing that this relation of man to man is but the 
completion of a relation which exists in a greater or a 
less degree when any man possesses the right to coerce 
another into labor for his benefit, without the consent of 
that other. 

It might seem that this is, in some sort, the condition 
of all men ; for even in this busy land, few work except- 
ing because they must. But, if we take an extreme 
case, it is one thing to be able to say to a man, Work for 
me on the terms which I offer, or starve, leaving it to him 
to starve if he chooses, and a very different thing, to have 
the right to say to him, Work for me on my terms or no 
terms, because I command you. These two things differ 
in essence ; they are as different, as non-slavery and 
slavery. The phrase in our Constitution, " held to labor," 
marks the distinction between one who is held to labor, 
and one who is persuaded or induced to labor. This 
phrase is, as it was intended to be, an exact definition of 
a slave. 

If it happens that these words present this idea to any 
reader for the first time, it may seem to him visionary, un- 
real, and unpractical. And certainly such an idea as that 
a legal right of thus compelling service is itself a wrong, 
scarcely existed upon earth until a few generations ago. 
If it existed in some minds, and was uttered by some 
voices, it had nowhere prevalence or recognition. And 
to-day it can hardly be said to have definite expression 
and acknowledged truth in the old world. All class-right 
is, to some extent, opposed to it ; and indeed is founded 
upon its opposite. And yet, history, if we permit it to 
throw the light of the past upon the present, may teach 
us that mankind in all its progress, has been constantly ad- 
vancing towards this end, towards the liberation of the hu- 
man mind from the thought, and of the human heart from 
the desire, of standing over a brother-man as his master and 
Ids owner. And a reason why that goodness which has 
ever led and watched the advancing footsteps of our race 
has guided them in this direction, is, that in proportion as 
the thought and desire of ruling over our brother pass 
away, they are replaced by the thought and the desire of 



standing by hia side and working with him tor a common 
good. 

Let ns casl a glanc< — a very brief and rapid glana — 
at the past. Beginning where history begins, w< 

unqualified an<l unquestioned despotism; now L r 1 and 

now evil, utterly diverse in character and influence, but 
always unquestioned, and unimpeded. This was ami is 
the Oriental i<l<-a of government; Gibbon remarks that 
: rn languages have no words t<» express any other 

] le of government. At length Greece arose, and under 

the leading of Alexander, conquered. It was the con- 
quest of Europe over Asia; of a European way of think- 
ing over Oriental thought : it was a step away from the 
Oriental i'l«-;i that despotism was the only cognizable form 
of government. 

In Greece and Rome, whatever were the abus< 
certain ages, there was always th< d ofteu Uie 

reality of governing by law. And then the feudal - 
;i«l\ anced bo far as to give • his placi . I 

man lii- riu'lit-. guch an lh< ad t<» 

n<» man the right "f ah all other rights into hi- 

own. The feudal system had 

The feudal system grew, flourished, ■!. and is 

passing away. A step further forward was possible; 
bul uot possible in Europe. \. - which had greatly 
varied the institutions of feudalism, had indurated them 
and the system of thought and fi them; 

and clothed them all \\ ith st< ible than 

the mail her warrioi v ^ i could 

the next Btep 1><- taken, — and America was discos 
And in or near the sann real discovery 

of gunpowder, which has made it impossible that the 
scenes Proissart so loves to paint, where a t-\\ mailed 
knights routed and slaughtered at their pleasure m< ; 
peasantry, should ever be repeated. And the compass 
\\ hich led ( folumbus to America ' 

of a commerce which has already begun it- \s . -i k of 
binding the nations into uuity. And the press was given, 
to give wings to thought. And all these discov< 

gifts of the same and were given \>>v the 

Bame end, as that for which America was discovered and 
l- 



6 SLAVERY. 

peopled. This end was — to express it in the fewest 
words — that consent might take the place of compulsion, 
in all the ranks and regions and work of human society. 

To this end this nation was planted in the home made 
ready for it ; fostered until it was ready to live in 
independence, and then gifted with independence. It 
was ready for nationality, and became a nation. And 
then came the great American Invention, — greater in 
worth, in wisdom, and in its beneficent influence over the 
whole future, than all those I have above enumerated ; 
the invention of a Constitution. 

The word is not a new one. It was applied to political 
institutions before we used it, and is now so applied else- 
where. But, in its American sense, and in its purpose 
and its work, a Constitution had no existence, until it 
was called into being for our needs, and our good ; called 
into being by the progress of humanity, and for that 
progress. 

It would of course be difficult, or rather, impossible, to 
give here a full exposition of the grounds on which an opin- 
ion rests, that may seem to many, extravagant. This will 
not be attempted. But some illustration of it may be 
derived from a comparison between the national feeling 
in this country, and that in Europe, on one point; it is, 
the loyalty of the nation. 

There are those who think this word rightly used in 
Europe, with an exact and definite sense ; but that here it 
can only be used in a kind of figurative or rhetorical sense. 
I think otherwise. Loyalty is everywhere a supreme 
political virtue ; if it can have no existence here, we are 
most unfortunate. If there be only one form of govern- 
ment in which it can exist, the sooner that form of 
government becomes ours, the better for us and for our 
children. 

The word loyal is the English form of the latin legalis. 
The feudal vassal, of every rank, was sworn to be Jidelis 
et legalis, or faithful and loyal, to his superior. Legalis 
is the adjective form of the substantive, lex, law. The 
oath then was that he would in good faith acknowledge 
and defend all the rights which the law gave to his 
superior, and obey all the commands which the law 
authorized. 



SLAVERY. i 

This i- the original idea, or the abstract idea, of loyalty. 
It perhaps never entered into tin- minds of the masses, 
and at all events it Boon t<>nk the form of personal 
loyalty. Nor is it difficult t«» Bee how this occurred and 
why i; was well that it should occur. 

The worst thing which can befall a man is to be 
delivered up to the unchecked dominion of his own self- 

1 d, before that self-h 1 is raised and regenerated into 

the perception and the love of bight. " Lord of himself, 
a heritage <>t' woe," he cannot then but abuse the mastery 
he | to his own destruction. Bui when he is 

prepared voluntarily t * » Bubmit himself t<> the law of 
right, and lets this law ripen into a love for his neigh- 
bor and his neighbor's rights, then a relief from exter- 
nal compulsion is the best thing which can happen. 
Therefore, that Divine Providence, which by the 
sitv of an infinite goodness seeks always the hi* 
good, is ever watchful to advance lay he the 

preparation «>t' man t « »r this gift, and to ji\e it as he is 
prepared, and to withhold it in the degree iu which he \a 
no! prepared. Between God and man, as between man 

and man. CON8EK1 is better than COMPULSION, and ;ill 

progress is from compulsion to consent. 
But the child .irilv -nl. 

.irilv immature, and unready for self-control. Am! in 
the earliest nations which history tells us of, in the childhood 
nl' man, this immaturity uplete 

that mii\ ersal despotism tted. As 

the necessity -j.-w less, despotism was modified; but in 
the old \\ mlil. \m- ha\ e no evi . that the peopl 

ired for a safe deli • ■ • >\\ er. 

The time may . •. possibly it may be near, but il 

ome yet. The common phnu •• K og, by the 
id," is oof without it- meaning and it- truth. It i- 
of the or mere) that kin. . en to 

those \\ hi ' Deed Iti 

We se< the master) "l" the father over the child, made 
tender and useful by the parental love which the Father 
of us all awakens in all at the birth of the child. Ami 
bo w here it i- neceasar) • le to have a kin-, or per- 

sonal so vereigu, governing in hi- own right, it i- a- 



8 SLAVERY. 

sary and useful that there exist among the people a strong 
sense of personal loyalty. And it exists in Europe. 
Weakened certainly, passing away possibly, but it has 
not yet passed away. 

And to what can we be loyal ? Let me ask another 
question, to what are they in England — to take England 
for our illustration — to what are they loyal ? To their 
Queen. No one who has been there, or has listened to 
the description of what they saw and heard who have 
been there, can doubt that there is — not everywhere — but 
in vast masses of the English people, an intense feeling of 
loyalty to their Queen. A loyalty which would stir their 
hearts to their depths and arm their hands with every 
weapon they could grasp in her defence. And what is 
their Queen ? A symbol and a personification of all law- 
ful authority. In the theory of their law, she is its 
source ; the judges of the law are her representatives, the 
ministers of the law her servants. She is their personal 
sovereign ; and she impersonates the sovereignty of the 
state ; the preservation of all order ; and the protection of 
all property, all industry, all prosperity. 

I do not suppose that in all men's minds there is a de- 
finite intellectual apprehension of this fact, or that such 
ideas are recognized by them as the foundation of their 
loyalty. But in many minds these ideas exist, and in 
more hearts this feeling would have power. Let there be 
a threat to-morrow of an uprising which should shatter 
the throne, and multitudes of the English — great multi- 
tudes — I know not how many, I do not even assert, 
although I believe a great majority of the English, would 
feel that if the throne went down, revolution, convulsion, 
conflict and distress would fill the land. For they would 
feel that if the throne went down, there would go down 
with it, for them, the foundation of all law, and all se- 
curity for order or for property. 

But what have we to be loyal to ? No personal sover- 
eign, reigning in his own right. What then have we ? 

When our fathers bent to the work of giving form and 
order to our nationality, they did not begin with the ap- 
pointment of a personal sovereign ; but with something 
very different. They selected those whom they thought 



SLAVERY. .' 

their best and wisest, and commissioned them to confer 
id discover the fundamental rights for which all 

rists, and which underlie and Biistain and promote 
all social good : ami tin- principles from which these 
rights forever flow. And then t<> devise the best forma 
and ml.-- for a government which should forever acknowl- 
edge ami secure these rights by a constant observant 

principles. And the fabric in which all this i- con- 
tained and expressed and defined, they called a Constitu- 
tion. There it Bt 1. the child of their own will. 

Embodying the best wisdom they bad; ami resting on the 
consent of all. There it Bto God there it 

stands. And this substitution of a written Constitution, 

ated, ami bo founded, i-. in my most profound belief, 
i political step ever yet taken in human pro- 

. and a Btep which He who loves us infinitely will 
net er permit t" I « retr 

\\ . li\ r in the beginning hich the 

characteristic, politically, will be constitutional republican 

oment. \) •! already 

. difficulties \\ e 
know m.i how to meet, mi- ■ <{ how to 

M e, w ill come up a- time 

rolls ou. But ilii- age, like her <'t' those in his- 

tory, will grnduall) — perhaps slowl) aud thrdugh much 
error and misfortune — develop itself into the form; 

r the fullest "i ■ principle. 

And that principle i- and will remain, the substitution «»t 
• for ( mpulsion. 

I. ei me •_••» back a| to 1 Let 

us compare English loyally with our own, as to its grounds 
and it- reasonableness. The} are loyal to tl 
eign. Victoria, a- queen, a- mother, and a- matron, 
commands the respect of all in Ameri< W 
was lure, nothing struck me more, and I n thing 

touched me more, than the wa\ in which tl „ w.i- 

express* d. It -« 1 med as if we fell that the excelh • 
1 ah matronhood sat, in her : n the throne of 

1 Not a m ord would I - og ha\ e I 

which woidd - word in n of this 

kuowledgment. But she must die. 



10 SLAVERY. 

may be hoped of him, has as yet only given a promise of 
excellence. He too must die. And the lives of his suc- 
cessors must be subject to vicissitudes, of which history, 
and none more plainly than the History of England, tells 
the sad tale. When Victoria's uncle, George IV., sat 
on the throne, the loyalty of England was shocked, and 
almost killed, by his wickedness, and selfishness, and the 
unconcealed foulness of his life and character. When 
such another sits there, that loyalty may have a deeper, 
even a fatal wound. To such chances and such perils 
the personal loyalty of England must submit. 

And through all these ages — if we do not prove un- 
worthy of so great a blessing — will stand our Constitution. 
Not, as some in Europe who speak of it suppose, because it 
is fixed and crystallized into forms which may be broken 
but cannot change .* The exact opposite of this is the 
truth. It is a living organism. It invites and provides 
for change. It desires all changes, in all time, which 
shall make it ever more able to perform its great func- 
tions. But it carefully provides that these changes shall 
come only as a common demand, shall be matured by a 
common deliberation, and rest on a common consent ; 
common, not uuiversal, for that it is too Avise to demand. 

That it must be far easier to be loyal when the object of 
our loyalty is a person, is certain. It must be a great re- 
lief to the human mind, in a certain condition, to have 
those principles of order, law, and kight, to which 
loyalty is due, impersonated in one who can be recognized 
and approached. But the providence of God, as it is 
manifested in the progress of humanity, seeks to lift the 
human mind above the condition in which it requires this 
relief, this assistance. And the great question for us this 
day, is, whether the American mind and character are 
lifted to the height of our own institutions. If not, we 
need, and if we need we shall have, a king. 

The very foundation of our existence as a nation is 
mutual desire, common consent. It has been too little 
noticed, that this nation stands alone on earth in one 
characteristic. What other great nation exists, or ever 
has existed, from the days of Nimrod the hunter of men, 
to this day, which did not acquire its growth and more or 



SLAVERY. 11 

lominion, by conquest, by compulsion ? Various 
have been the forms and modes of this compulsion ; but, 

me form, it has existed everywhere. Our nation 
was formed without one atom of this element. 
And it' Texas and California Beem to have been added by 
conquest, it was perhaps the introduction of a new ele- 
ment ; and it was, at all events, the conquest of the land 
only, and not of the people ; and when tin- Bparse popula- 
tion we found I •• into a sufficient magnitude, it 

i their own request that they were admitted to an 
equal share of all our rights, all our advi U our 

! DqueSl ami Bubjugation - 

to me utterly foreign to the nature and working and life 
<»t* our political instituti 

But it may be asked h<»v. I el the i 

turn within the Union, without conquest and Bubjuga- 
tion. What liirlit have we to them at all, if the 

\ .iv essential characteristic i 
instead ol 

I U ernment • upon the prin- 

ciple • nt, it must be clearly and practically 

understood, thp I j perfectly 

• 

\- I have already said, I believe an imn p was 

taken in the pi . by the establishment of 

<»ur nationality , upon 

the print i| ill our institi I lav - 

and ii-;u- - musi 

I • ! i i i i g 

I 

n| : or, again, • actual 

existence, when there are made b} 

betwi iting parties; made with their consent 

and concu \ inded u] 

■ . the right and the 
l"'\\ er of enfon ments, 01 -. made by the 

- ut n|" the parties. 

For example. No mat Massachusetts is obligi 
buy or t<> -.11 anytfa ; ting at his own pl< 

by lii~ own free choice. But it hi to buy or to 

sell, and maki at to that effect, then he is 



12 SLAVERY 

held absolutely, and if need be coercively, to his obliga- 
tion ; that is, to deliver what he sells when he is paid, or 
to pay for what he buys. 

It must be perfectly obvious, that national institutions 
cannot be founded upon and characterized by the principle 
of consent, unless it is a part of that principle, embodied 
in the consent of the whole nation, that when consent 
ripens into contract, there shall exist the right, the power 
and the duty of enforcing the contract-obligation. 

We apply and test this principle continually, in the 
smaller matters of e very-day occurrence. We are now 
testing the same principle on the largest scale. 

All the States, and all the persons iu every State, have 
agreed to our national existence and our national insti- 
tutions. No matter whether they have formally expressed 
their consent, by oath, or voting, or otherwise. They 
have lived under them ; profited by them ; received their 
share of the good derived from them. And common 
sense as well as common law holds them to be estopped 
from denying their consent ; their contract. 

Rebellion is the last and most consummate violation of 
contract-obligation. It is the violation by force of the 
contract which is the foundation on which our nationality 
rests, and therefore upon which all order, all society, all 
contract-obligation rests. And therefore it is a violation 
of contract against which the whole force of the nation 
should be thrown, with a concentration of all its might, 
and with unfaltering energy, and unrelenting determina- 
tion. 

But conquest and subjugation do not enter into my idea 
of either our right or our duty; for this plain reason. We 
fight only against rebellion ; against the rebels only be- 
cause they are and as they are rebels. And as soon as 
the rebellion is suppressed, as soon as they cease to be 
rebels, they return again within the Constitution ; within 
its obligations, Avithin its penalties for Avhatever crimes 
they have committed, but also within its protection. 

To regard them not as rebels, but as enemies in the 
same sense in which strangers at war .with us would be 
our enemies, is to declare that rebellion has succeeded ; 
has done its work ; has separated them from us. 



Bl \\ EKT. 13 

I at was the foundati r nationality, bo it 

' ostitution which gives to it form and defini- 
I very heart a 

i stitution, is, that it is the voluntary 
>\..rk of all, the expression of the common will, i 

^ : and -<» terminating in a common 
contract, and a <-<>num'n obligation. 

! republicai 

Ksi s i . The hei ry i- 

( ompi i sion. II -' d( - not exhibit, and the mind of 

I "litiral antagonism, 
than that bet* republicai ment, 

and slavery. Hence this w I this \\ ar 

else than this antagonism, utt< off its 

« I i ~ lt 1 1 i - . ■ . taking up all thi 

I I with ;ill its ftiry, it- slaugh- 

ter, it- hatred, and it- sacrifice, is bul of the 

■ 
I 

i pro- 
I 
Bufficii W 

I 
almost uov lien*. ! 

i ■ 

::-lik.- 
that l I 

three, I 

1 

ilsiun. 
I 

that 
truth would 

<\ il. ami f i - ■ • (lom I 

altnii.it r. -11. 

At that time 
this country would 

■ 
Not i ailed, 

nearly J in som< . but 1 1 ■ * - • ij>l<-. 



14 SLAVERY. 

so lately born among men, that it was not well for any 
man to have the right of compelling another to act with- 
out his own concurrence, was dimly seen and feebly felt. 
And therefore the kind and measure of pro-slavery which 
claims and loves this right, would have been found potent 
everywhere, and all its sympathies would have been, as 
they are now and ever must be, with that consummated 
slavery which deems it well for a man to own a man. 
The conflict would not then have been safe. Our fathers 
did well and wisely in not exciting it. They left it for a 
future day. It has come in our day. The way in which 
it has come is this. 

As the years passed on, slavery, from causes all of 
which are not obvious, gradually withdrew from a large 
part of the country, and gradually became concentrated in 
another part ; and thus slavery and non-slavery became to 
a great degree separated and distinguished from each 
other. 

In that part of the country where slavery was concen- 
trated, it flourished. It produced an apparent prosperity, 
in which the slaves had little share, and the mass of poor 
whites round them even less, while it made the few slave- 
owners rich in idleness. But while it impoverished and 
degraded the poor whites, it fed and gratified their pride 
that even in their degradation they could look down with 
utter contempt upon a numerous class below them. And 
this false and foolish pride kept up in their minds a com- 
parison of their condition as freemen with that of the 
slaves, and they did not know their degradation ; and they 
learned to love slavery, as well as the rich men who were 
masters of the slaves without disguise, and masters of the 
poor whites under a thin disguise. 

The consequence of this was inevitable. That region 
became a slave region completely and thoroughly. Not 
only was nearly all its wealth slave-wealth, but in about 
the same proportion its opinion became a slave-opinion ; 
its belief a slave-belief ; its reason a slave-reason ; its 
conscience a slave-conscience ; its religion a slave-religion. 
Not universally, but prevailingly. And its policy, — for 
in this the majority ruled, — became an absolute, unquali- 
fied, slave-policy. 



8t w l i:v. 15 

\ .1 in the meantime how Fared it with the region from 
which slavery had withdrawn? That region also flour- 
ished; and while it- prosperity outran anything in hu- 
man experience and astonished the world, it i 
markable for it- diffusion as for its amount. It was the 
result of the co-operation of all, concurring in labor of all 

kinds, but all resulting in a common g 1. of which all 

had their Bhare, and nearly all a share proportionate t<> 
their industry and intelligen 

With tlii- there grew up, and int 'li. a 

feeling and belief that this marvellous prosperity was due 
to our nationality, which alone could give it safe! 
permanence, and to tin- principles "1* human rights which 
..in- Constitution expressed and protected. The 
marts of commerce fell that they must decay with our 
national decay. The ov ad the i th>> 

mills t" w hich our rushing . knew 

II as it' th>- sun-light v. i their wall-, that 

only in the preservation of «»ur nationality could they 
prosper. The men w ho plou 

those wide Western fields which could feed a world, felt 
that they could work 1 find wealth in the pro- 

duel "t' their labors, ition that aality 

w a- presen ed. 

I .li this there was alio} enough of selfishness. But 
through it all. there al i into 

habitual and common thought, the uotion that every man 
owned himself, and bad a right to employ himself only 
with hi- own consent, however h ihe terms 

to \\ hich he ch itionul re- 

publicanism was founded <>u this principle. 

It i- this thought which underlies all the true democ- 

i thi- couutry. It may have in the miuds <>f the 

masses but little precisi : it may 

be t j 1 1 i i « ■ too much allied w itli ! I>\ sel- 

li-hiit-- : au<l it often expresses itsell with gn 

of word and act. But there it i-. right in itself, 
a sentiment ■•: • . I • i use it has this | 

thin has ^rown up with it a ful . which de- 

sires to confound itself with the true democracy, that it 
in. iv use n a- a tool; and it acquires tin- use of it h\ false 



16 SLAVERY. 

pretences. This false democracy asserts vociferously a 
sympathy with the true democracy, when in fact it is in 
exact opposition to it ; because its whole aim is to use men 
without their actual consent ; and as this can no longer be 
done by violence, it is done by fraud and falsehood. 

I have attempted a very general sketch of the con- 
dition and sentiment of the two great regions of this 
country, the slave region, and the non-slave region. And 
when the greater growth of the non-slave element warned 
the slave element that it was on the way to death, slowly 
and lingeringly perhaps, but inevitably, the slave element 
rushed into a conflict which it hoped would end in a vic- 
tory that would give it permanent power and therefore 
permanent existence. And it may do this, unless the 
conflict ends, not in the victory, but in the defeat of 
slavery. I do not say its destruction, but its defeat. And 
if it so ends, whatever form this defeat puts on, the death 
of slavery is made more certain and brought more near. 
Which of these results is impending ; the victory or the 
defeat of Slavery ; the success or the suppression of Re- 
bellion ? 

This must depend on the relative strength of the par- 
ties ; not merely the strength which each party possesses, 
but the strength which each party brings into the conflict. 
And one important measure of this strength, is the unity 
of each party. 

The slave party was far from being unanimous at the 
outset. The cautious and skilful measures adopted by 
the leaders of the rebellion to bring their States into the 
attitude of rebellion without a popular vote on the ques- 
tion, is, of itself, a sufficient proof of this. Their earnest 
and successful endeavors " to fire the Southern heart," 
showed that they thought it needed to be fired ; and none 
could judge of this so well as they could. Undoubtedly 
there was much lingering attachment to the Union ; much 
fear for the possible consequences of war and for its in- 
evitable suffering and sacrifice ; and some doubt whether 
slavery was a good thing to fight for. But the Southern 
heart has been fired. The voice of opposition has been 
silenced, and wherever necessary strangled with a rope. 

and enormous sacrifice, 



SLAVERY. 17 

ctreme exhaustion which have attended the rebellion 
iint-t have produced much effect, it may still be said, thai 
bo far as we can judge from trustworthy testimony, there 
of unity at the South. 

The -_r » 1 1 1 — of Sumter fired the Northern heart at once. 
There was a wonderful uprising of the whole people. 
Even the false democracy saw instantly (and they are 1 1 < • t 
usually mistaken on such j>< -im - ) thai they should 1"~<- all 
hold <>t' the true democracy, it' they <li<l not join, w ith seem- 
ing heartiness at least, in the defence of our nationality. 

This uprising, in it- unanimity, \\< earnestness, and the 
proofs it gave of its reality, surprised ourselves, astonished 
Europe, and most of all amazed and disappointed the 
rebels. Because the slave influence had made the mind 
of thai region a slave-mind, they could not, they a 
dow, ami tlirv uever will comprehend it. But tli 

d to them fearful, lint time w <!it on, 
old differences revived, and i up. Different 

interests and difl look at < ach other 

with watchfulness, perhaps with jealousy and distrust. 
All opinion fim Is < and is confirmed h\ ex- 

'-I1 ; for i. M 

grew angry; and as an ly unwise, 

unwise notions, unsound arguments, and mistaken <-<>u- 
clusions flew through the commui 

I iking at the matter from some points of \ iew . it might 
seem as it the war had strengthened the unit} "t tlie re- 
bellion, and weakened that <»i ih. i. Bui I 

am n<.t sure thai il 

There are mi this point. Thus, 

it is extremely difficult t<» know what portion <>t the 
Bccming disaffection is nothiug more than a mere d 
the disaffection existing at the lx , hut then •■"ii- 

cealed, <t at lei I till we ra 

deceived by the loud aud universal fault-finding, which has 
reached an excess thai would It ludicrous, it it were uol 

rous. But il may not h 
I I lurse ii" oue can hope I era! renuncial i< 

the cheap and easy pleasure of fault-finding. 1I<- who finds 
fault with anoth< Is by implication his own 

belief (an unconscious one perhaps) "t his superiority, of 



18 SLAVERY. 

his freedom from that which he rebukes. He judges, he 
condemns, he looks from above, down. And where is the 
human being to whom this is not grateful? No. We 
may hope for money, for effort, toil, and courage to face 
any peril. But we must not hope for so enormous a sacrifice 
as the voluntary relinquishment of fault-finding. Of course 
it does harm ; but it may also do some good ; possibly 
in the rebuke of some actual wrong, or the correction of 
some actual mistake, or in the fact that it keeps us awake 
and alive to existing exigencies. 

But whatever uncertain good this reckless fault-finding 
may do, it works one great and certain mischief in the 
despondency which it produces and diffuses. 

Despondency is always the effect of weakness, and 
always increases weakness. Therefore it is never wise. 
And in times like these it is most mischievous, most dan- 
gerous. A very profound thinker has said, " There is 
nothing I fear so much as Fear." This saying, wise for 
most times, is, for us in these times, brimful of wisdom. 
The army of the people should be what military men call 
" the supporting force " of the army we have seal to the 
front. And a panic in the one army may be as fatal as a 
panic in the other. 

We may be prudent and cautious; neither unduly 
elated nor depressed ; moderate in our expectations; and 
yet rational, firm and hopeful. 

He who has given all the money he can spare, and sent 
his sons to battle, while his wife and daughters toil for the 
comfort and health of the soldiers, has yet one more duty 
to perform, which, to some tempers, is the most difficult 
of all. It is, to repel Despondency from his own mind, 
and protect all whom he can from this moral palsy. Not 
more certain is it that red-handed Treason has brought us 
to this pass, than that, among the loyal, Despondency is 
the servant of Treason, doing its work where no thought of 
treason could gain admittance. Much of this work has 
been done ; but I am sure, for all the moaning and 
groaning which echoes around us, that the heart of New 
England still beats with strong and steady pulse. 

And then it must be remembered, that the differences 
exhibited among us, are to an immense extent, differences 



BL w I i:v. 19 

the means and not differences as t<> th< Behind 

nearly all of them, and urging them on, is the determination 

that tfa Miiitrv musl be saved. It is easy to mistake in 

tlii— matter. Thus, recent elections have given the oppo- 
sition a majority in some large States. Bnt the most potent 
" cry " employed by the victors was against the government 
for it- lack of energy in the prosecution of the war. Ami 
yet a political victory, gained by the expression <•!' a 
vehement « 1 * — it-*- that the war should be urged with the 
utmost energy, and l»y a passionate appeal t<> this ruling 
desire of the people, led by some, and made use of 

me, .it home and abroad, a- evidence that this very 
desire is feeble and dying out '. Some even of the leaders 
win* wuii this victory in this way would have it mean " erring 
Bisters go in peace." Bui our erring understand 

these matters better than some of us <l" : they are not « 1 « * - 
<-.-i\ ed, if w <• are. 

The most ferveul loyalty, the - ! ]>;itri.»t- 

iam, are -" fortified ou this point by every motive of 

interest, of selfishness, and i I 

not doubt their ultimati In th<- 1- 

there is an infinite di 

habits, motives and opinions. A d this diversity 

• kind. Not only is there loyalty 
<>r the loftiest and | uresi cl the most 

unmil . but there is loyalty in 

•<> the I- 

'. 
equal <li\ ci \\ liieh iln- 

<-<>iilli<-l i- ' 

the suppression of the rebclli* w liich 

lould be employed. All thin <li\.r-it\ i- 
doubtless a disturbing and rctardii It musl • 

the -'i and our success less 

i .ill it pri 

our t*u< 1 1 

. what do I . \\ liul success is it 

that I look fori ( I flicl is >la\ ery : 

and with it disi the Uuion, and rebellion against 

nstitution. But these thn • I that one 

- Rebellion. On the other »id< are three things also. 



20 SLAVERY. 

One of these is the opposition to slavery ; another, the 
determination to save our nationality ; the third, loyalty to 
the Constitution. And these three things are also one, and 
that one is the suppression of Rebellion. To many minds 
these three things seem to be distinct, and they have indeed 
assumed, to some extent, an attitude of antagonism to each 
other. But, to my mind, they are as closely connected, as 
indissolubly one in their nature and their influence, as are 
the three elements of the rebellion. And, therefore, as 
rebellion is the one thing in which its three elements are 
waging war against us, so a suppression of the rebellion is 
the one thing in which the elements of our resistance 
should combine. That should be the constant end ; and 
all other things regarded only as the means to this end. Let 
me try to show how the three elements of our resistance to 
rebellion are one. 

The preservation of our nationality will be necessarily, 
at some time and in some way, the death of slavery. For 
the heart and essence of our national existence is the prin- 
ciple of freedom. This principle has grown in develop- 
ment and strength beyond the principle of slavery, not by 
any accident, but because it could not be otherwise in a 
nation founded as ours was, and characterized and circum- 
stanced as ours has been, and is, and must continue to be 
as long as we are one nation. The South felt this. The 
Southern mind has become essentially a slave-mind. 
Many persons there are probably unable to form a con- 
ception of nationality or civilization without slavery; and 
some have avowed this. Their hatred of the " accursed 
Yankees " is only an expression of the love of slavery ; Yan- 
keeism being with them an impersonation of non-slavery. 
They saw plainly, or they felt instinctively, that slavery 
would perish if our nationality should continue. The 
death of slavery seems to them their own death. They 
are fighting for life. They are fighting to destroy our 
nationality, because if our nationality lives, slavery must 
die. In all this they are not mistaken. The only strange 
thing is, that we do not see this as plainly as they do. 

Then, as to our Constitution. If we continue to be a 
nation, we must have, as I think, inevitably, a constitu- 
tional republican government ; and between such a con- 



-I..W ERY. 21 

Btitiitional government and slavery, there must 1»<-. tor- 
Mini inevitably. lisni. Ami t 1 * I — i- what I 
mean, whe I . that the three elements of our 
ance t«> the rebellion, opposition n> slavery, d< termination 
!.. preserve our nationality, ami loyalty t<« the Constitution, 
are in their nature and • l me. 

Shall we preserve our nationality? I can only say, 
there seem to me reasons why we should, and influ 
leading to that result, of such irrr~i-iii.lt' weight and force 
that I do not believe they can fail. A. 3t them all comes 
the disrupting force ol slavery. And while I write there are 
jealousies, intrigues, outcries, threatening to separate the 

from th»- East; they are strongly reinforced by - 
thing which calls itself, and may believe itself a defence 
of the Constitution ; and the whole is used energetically 
by th< :n. w hich would sacrit thing 

that came between it and its prey. 1.1 

such tlim.'-. TIk- power of evil can <1" much, but 
there are ban pass. I belie v< that it' the 

M - ~ 1 1 » | » i were <■: Atlantic 

closed lelv to 

reopen it as they are fight in. reopen I 

sippi. They need Loth: no matter which they ! 

most : they need both absolul 

But shall we ] I 

In my judgment, tl ! utiou ha □ vio- 

lated, ia any w 1 1 I 

ill. it are those who think i I 

w h<» ai >• •. ut thi- : 

deal of eloquent anger, in I 
among those w h.> hear or read them. I 
do not believe what thej say. I 
unfrequently met w ith, « ho, \\ 1 

thing stroi in with m eve it. 

With - 
one : for it enables thi ly the 

-. ami R i 
esty ol ain kind. It 

me, or in any 1 1 iuable 

perils, w Inch, it' they an 
impose I 



22 SLAVERY. 

of opposition to the government, and of friendship for the 
rebels can so coalesce and inflame each other, as to make 
it necessary for the government to sacrifice our nationality 
or sacrifice our Constitution ; but, if this choice must be 
made, then, with as much love and reverence for the Con- 
stitution as my nature is capable of, I should still say, 
our nationality must not be lost, and rebellion must not 
prevail. 

The Senate has been recently agitated by a case, 
where a man supposed to be an active sympathizer with 
the rebels, was arrested and imprisoned. The Presi- 
dent and Commander-in-Chief in this war upon the 
very life and being of the country, had suspended the 
Habeas Corpus, and imprisoned him. Then the man 
utterly denied his sympathy, or at all events his active 
sympathy with the rebels. And thereupon the President 
(always through his agents) offered to release him at once, 
if only he would take the oath of allegiance to the 
United States. And he would not ; and remained under 
arrest. Now I wish to repeat most emphatically, that 
there was not, in my judgment, any violation of the Con- 
stitution here, of any kind or any degree whatever. But 
if there was any violation whatever, I am sure it Avas 
not a substantial violation. I am willing to say farther, 
that if I must choose between that defence of the Consti- 
tution which holds it always on the hand and uses it as a 
tool, and has it always on the lips and makes it a means 
for obstructive agitation, and ostentatiously clings to its letter 
while it is weakening the defence of its very existence ; — 
if I must choose between this and that other defence of 
the Constitution which would preserve its vital principles, 
and the allegiance due to it, even at the cost of some 
violation of the letter, I should not choose the former. I 
would not save the body at the expense of the soul. 

Some of the "Defenders of the Constitution" of the 
present day, use with much emphasis the phrase, " The 
Constitution makes us a nation." It suits my way of 
thinking better to say, our nationality made the Constitu- 
tion. " We, the people of the United States," determined 
to become a nation. By our agents we determined also 
upon the principles and the forms which should manifest 



SL LVER1 . 



- 



our nationality to ourselves and to the world, ami govern us 
in all tin- working of our national life. These principles 
and forms are expressed in the Constitution. I am willing 
to Bay almost anything of it. excepting that it makes our 
nationality. The Constitution proves our nationality, de- 
fines it, expresses it, guards it, protects it. bui does not 
mah it. I can sympathize heartily, with any defence ol 
our Constitution which Beems to me honest and rational. It 
may be honest and rational, although I do not think bo. 
But it' it d -••-iii bo to me, I cannot sympathize 

with it. 

I can discern uo limits to a nation's right of 
Belf-salvation. A man may Bave his own lit;- by any 
effort or any means, not prohibited by the laws oi 
even in that extremity. I ;>m sure that this right, and 
this duty, belong equally to a nation. 

Success then I hope for. Success in retaining our 
nationality. Success in preserving the life of our Consti- 
tution A ml I also hope tor sua y. be- 
cause this i- involved in the j our nationality 
and our ( onstitution. 

Would that I were able to impress my convictioi 
this last point, upon the community. A mistake in rela- 
tion to ii seems to me to h<- doing ur 1 < at mischii 

The divisions < t opinion which weaken our efforts may 
luced into two clai I ill designate then 

iiiv ow q com ei d the 

opposition ; ich of the parties of \\ hom I 

would speak includes those whom these words would not 
accurately describe. I think the mi-tak<' they make is 
one, although it assumes two very different asp< 

'I'll.' anti-slavery part} believes it will advance it- pnr- 
l>\ a direct attack on slavery; thej f«ay, let us kill 
slavery ami rebellion will die. It' thej believed a- I 
that our nationality ami our Constitution were the very 
best possible instruments through which slavery might be 
assailed and extirpated, in the best time and in tl 
wa) whatever that ma) be, tiny might adopt a different 
course. 

The opposition would treat Bla very tenderly, in hop.- \>, 
allure or entice tin- Blave States back, 'liny do qoI realize 



24 SLAVERY. 

that our national life has been, from its beginning, working 
against slavery. That, while it permitted slavery to ac- 
quire great extent and power, it built up the prosperity of 
the free States at a far greater rate, and strengthened the 
element of non-slavery against slavery, until the supremacy 
of the latter disappeared ; and that the slave States saw 
this clearly and perfectly ; saw and knew beyond all 
doubt or question, that slavery must die if it did not 
escape from the Union ; saw and knew that the hour had 
come when only the struggle was possible, because delay 
would make even the struggle impossible. They therefore 
sprang into rebellion ; and this day, they see and know, 
every man of them, that a return to the Union involves 
the decay and certain death of slavery before a very long 
time. Between this peril, and the chances of war, they 
chose, and must choose. They know, if we do not, that 
the public sentiment of this country will never permit such 
immunities and securities for slavery as would give it en- 
during vitality and permanent power, even if such were 
possible, which I do not believe. The opposition party de- 
ceive themselves if they think they can bring back the slave 
States by any other means whatever than by making the 
chances of war. valueless to them. And yet it is this very 
opposition, and the division in our counsels and our con- 
duct that it produces, which alone give to the rebels all 
the hope they have, all the chance they have. For if they 
have any hope now of foreign intervention, they know, if 
we do not, that it is this division alone, which will make 
intervention possible. 

I think our government makes a mistake allied to this. 
The President knows that there is a divided sentiment in 
the country, and that we can only succeed by bringing the 
whole strength of the loyal States to bear on the rebellion. 
And he labors, honestly and earnestly, to reconcile, or at 
least combine, the two great parties which he recognizes. 
His mistake is, not to recognize, and not to throw himself 
upon, a much stronger party. 

Each of these parties desires and demands that the rebel- 
lion shall be put down, in its own way. The great mass 
of the people desire and demand only that the rebellion 
be put down. A year ago this great party comprehended 



SL I VERY. 



25 



almost everybody. Now, the anti-slavery party haw per- 
suaded many thai the rebellion can be pul down only by 
direct assault upon Blavery. The opposition have per- 
suaded many thai it can be pul down only by treating 
slavery tenderly. Bui I believe the greal mass of the 

people Btands where it b1 1, [f Abraham Lincoln, in 

w bose absolute honesty of purpose every one has confidence, 
and as to whose capacity doubts have arisen only from his 
seeming vacillation, would ;i« I< >j »t and declare hit own 
policy, his own method of putting down the rebellion, «>n no 
other ground and with no other thought and no other motive 
whatever, than thai be verily believed it to be the best way 
in Rebellion, he would find himself at 
once at the head of this greal party, the people. Then, 
they would be glad to see him carry oul this policy 
vigorously and unrelentingly, destroy what he might, 
or save what be might. They would oot be led away 
from him by the outcries of the le par- 

or of all part moved from office, <-i\ il 

or military, every man whom he i : >t t<> dis- 

miss, and who would not ai I cordially 

in carrying out hi- policy; and il he would throw the 
whole force of the government into it. without hindrance, 
stop, or stay, the people would go with him. 

Will slavery be among the things that are destr 
or the thin.'- thai d ? It has been permitted 

cist almost alu ■ *-. - and almoi 
technical, or ab 1 1 ' liristianity 

Btroi »• from th<- 1.. I -h- >uld saj . our 

Father worked through Christianity to l< 
from it. How mm Red by the little fact, that in 

the year 321 the Ed id * tantine, which established 
the worship of the Lord's day, by prohibiting on thai 

ind for that purpose, the sitting of th< I 

jii(li«-i:il pr on. h i-. in 

of th<' proceedings l>\ which a si formally made 

free. So has Christianity ever work< H ivery, 

with greal and continued - fei with entire 

success. But it i- certain that if Christianity does 
ultimately Bucceed in conquering slavery, Blavery will 
Bucceed in conquering Christianity; for their essential 



26 SLAVERY. 

antagonism is eternal. I am sure that Christianity will 
ultimately conquer slavery. But by what means, by what 
steps, or at what rate of progress, Christianity will ad- 
vance in its conquest of slavery, — that I do not know. 

It certainly seems to me probable th..t slavery must 
be materially weakened by this conflict and its results. 
It seems to me possible, and not improbable, that it 
may receive a wound that is obviously fatal, and be 
brought near to inevitable death. It seems to me pos- 
sible, but not probable, that it may utterly perish, and 
once for all disappear from this whole country to be seen 
here no more. 

I know, certainly, only this. It is now our duty, the 
most absolute duty of all in the free States, to fight. To 
fight against Rebellion. To fight against it by every 
weapon we can use, whether it be forged of steel, or 
impelled by fire ; or only by words winged with the fire of 
loyalty to God and to our country ; or only by thoughts 
and feelings which find no utterance. Fight against the 
serried ranks of Rebellion if our place be there ; fight 
against the errors or malignities which sympathize with 
Rebellion if our place be at home ; fight, even in our own 
hearts, against prejudices, or passions, or interests, or 
habits, or hatreds, which, not intentionally or consciously, 
but in fact, paralyze our efforts, strengthen and envenom 
our dissensions, and give aid and comfort to Rebellion. 



Slavery is compatible with much excellence of heart and 
character and conduct. I have no doubt whatever, that 
there are many slaveholders who are kind and just men. 
That they heartily acknowledge their duty to their slaves, 
and endeavor conscientiously to discharge their duty. But 
wherever this goodness exists within slavery it must be 
exceptional. It must exist, not because of slavery, but in 
despite of it. And I suppose that such slave-owners are 
not among those who believe that slavery is essentially a 
good thing, and who love slavery. Because it seems to 
me this love can have no other origin than the love of 
dominion and mastery, grounded in pure selfishness. 



SLAVERY. 27 

3 1 admit that compulsion is g 1 while there is 

an immaturity which demands it. slaveholders will tell me 
that tl - acapable of maturity ; and there- 

fore tin- besl thing for it is and will always be the guidance 
an<l guardianship ami protection of slavery. This 1 
not believe. . I lay aside all inquiry into the origin of the 
. or into the differences which separate him from the 
white man. I am sure of this; he has, or is capable "f 
having human affe< d human thoughts. 11<- is 

therefore a Man. And therefore be is or may become 
something which should not be a Blave. 

I have repeatedly spoken of slavery as existing technically 
and avowedly, and as the absolute ownership of a man by 
a man : and then we call it Blaver isting 

in it- elements and it.- < - herever a right exie 

man \>> labor for another in any way, without his 
owu i This ] lied com- 

pulsion. I will not insisl that it be called imperfect, 
modil , because I i lifjhl thcu use 

a word which i 
which doea uot lx long to it. I « ill « • . 1 1 1 it compulsi 

li i- . when 

it i- imdi- it i- tli '1 all 

the while to l"\<- and cling i" that right of compulsion 

which i- -imil I 

I w ill I pe, hatred of -la\ • 

appeared t" be dom taiuly 

eloquent with is with many. But 

our <i\ il \\ ar has applied 1 lisli hatred 

• .I slavery. Ii has brought it into conflict with the interests, 
the prejudices, the jealousies and the fears of the ruling 
classes. In all conflicts it is the weakest party which yields ; 
ami in this conflict, the hatred of slavery appears to have 
yirld.-d in the mind- of the- I seems 

t.» me plaiu enough ; because the I • rtain, 

that, while technical slavery has no existent I gland, 

and while - ■ ! yrlishman the boast that it a 

Blave stands upon English -"il hi- chains fall from him, 
the very essential principle of slavery exists and operates 
in England, and has great favor there. What 1 mean i-. 
that the South, and the whole Southern mind and charac- 



28 SLAVERY. 

ter, are not more permeated and dominated by the principle 
of Slavery, than the English mind is permeated and dom- 
inated by the principle of Servility. 

The cement which holds the fabric of English society 
together, is Servility. An Englishman looks upon those 
higher than himself in class-position, with a humility and 
subservience, that to a stranger who sees it or reads of it, 
is either disgusting, or amazing, or amusing. But he 
looks down on those below him in class-position, and 
demands and receives the same humility and subservience. 
We read of the castes in India, and wonder at them. 
But in England the noble families are far above the un- 
titled in all social arrangements. The landed gentry will 
not meet on equal terms with the merchant. And the 
merchant looks down with the same self-complacency upon 
the retail trader. A shopkeeper would be a phenom- 
enon in a great house, if he had not been sent for to 
exhibit his wares. And all look down, alike, upon their 
servants. It is true the question of wealth runs through 
all this, because now, in England, mere wealth, however 
come by, gives a spurious kind of rank, which some 
acknowledge and some do not. 

When chemists speak of a substance differing from an- 
other in that one of its many elements is changed for another 
which occupies precisely its place and enters into all its 
relations, they say the new element has replaced the former. 
It is precisely in this sense, that I say the Servility of Eng- 
land replaces the Slavery of our Southern States. For 
servility enters into the relations of English society, and 
affects the various classes of the nation, with a close 
analogy to the place and influence of slavery in the 
South. 

For example, no one would say that the four millions of 
slaves love slavery. There are slave-owners who say it, 
but they do not think it, and cannot expect any person to 
suppose that they believe it. And yet slavery must have 
affected the minds of these millions. Many of them doubt- 
less value the protection, the food and shelter it gives 
them ; and they dread the consequences of any agitation 
for freedom. 

So, in England, more than as many millions are utterly 



SLAVERY. 

without voi< )• vote or political rights, and ar«* nothing 

more than the producers of wealth for the residue, for 
- which only sustain life. They cannot love the in- 
stitutions which bring upon them this constant degradation 
and frequent Buffering. But they are accustomed to their 
condition. They know not how otherw - the means 

of even livi ig. Ajad they fear change, for they have lost 
the capacity of hoping for anything better. 

\\ , supposed that the negroes would move in some way 
in furtherance of their delii I did Dot expect 

insuiTi • : I did not desire it. nor do I know any per- 
Bon who did desire it. But I supposed that a movement 
like that which has actually taken pla< 
the Blave region, would have become, by this time, general. 
It is, in Bubstance, a refusal of the Blaves to work unless 
for wages and on term- agreed upon, Such a mov< 
would have been a fearful calamity for th< R The 

»uld not i w ithont tlie aid of 

soldiers who could aot be spared from their armi< \ : 

a compliance with their demands would have struck at 
the heaii of slavery. But the slaves have not moved. 

. said that England is u on a volcano," and 
that her laborers and her poor must rise u| e the 

first opportunity of breaking their bondage, [do 
believe they would. What keeps the slaves quiet, would 
keep them quiet. Pear and habit have great power. 

\ .ii 11. In the South the not all of 

I. S cert nnlv. dislike *• the 

peculiar institution. *' They consider ened upon 

them, and know not hOM I without utter ruin. 

But they would !»<• glad to have it mitigated, and im- 
proved, or removed if possible. So in England, oi the 

ling classes th< tome, we know . aud mon 

Biippose, who do not believe that civilization demands that 
the exuberanl wealth of a fev -how. with the 

enormous mass ol mie tdatiou 

festering at tl, 1 do these 

I qs love the Servility which characterizes their coun- 
try. They wish, some of them act, for the mitigation 
and improvement of this state of (Kings. But they look 
upon this evil as fastened upon them, and bo rooted in the 



30 SLAVERY. 

whole fabric of English society, that it could not be taken 
away without bringing the fabric itself to ruin. 

Again. Russell's Diary gives us conclusive evidence, 
that the leading conspirators of the South desire, earn- 
estly desire, a monarchy. And slavery must desire a 
monarchy. The very nature of the case makes it certain, 
that if slavery should ever become the acknowledged " cor- 
ner-stone," as Mr. Vice-President Stephens calls it, of a 
State, at its summit there must stand, whatever title he 
may bear, a despot. But servility, which is only modified 
slavery, differs from slavery, which is intensified servility, 
in this. It does not require a despot. Less will satisfy its 
needs. Hence England requires and has a " constitutional 
monarch." 

What does this phrase practically mean ? The king 
(or queen) of England reigns on condition that he will 
not govern nor attempt to govern. Queen Victoria has 
less political power than any one of her most prominent 
and influential subjects. Indeed she has none. It is the 
universally recognized proof of her sagacity and her fit- 
ness for her place, that she abstains from any interference 
with the government of the country. While I write, the 
" London Times," which speaks for and to the aristocracy of 
England, inculcates, somewhat rudely, the same abstinence 
upon the Prince of Wales. Where then is the actual power 
of the State, for it must be somewhere? It is in the hands 
of an aristocracy, who are the possessors of unquestioned 
power, and are, of late years, beginning to cast off their dis- 
guise. This aristocracy is, partly an aristocracy of rank, 
and partly an aristocracy of wealth. Keen observers say 
that the last is gaining on the first, and getting the mas- 
tery. It is difficult to say how this is, because they work 
with so much harmony. The aristocracy of rank seeks to 
bring wealth within its " order," by marrying the pos- 
sessors of wealth, or ennobling them. The aristocracy of 
wealth seeks to add the advantage of rank, by marriage 
alliances, or by getting titles. But considering them as 
one, this aristocracy is the absolute master of England ; 
more absolutely its master, than Louis Napoleon is of 
France, or Alexander is of Russia. The aristocracy ap- 
points and sustains and directs the ministers. The Prime 



SLAVERY. 31 

Minister i- their chief Bervant. The Queen, who calls 
these ministers ber servants, is but the servant <>f their 
masters. And this is in perfect harmony with English 
institutions ami English character. Everything in that 
nation depends upon class distinctions and class rights; 
and it is necessary that the highest class should be the 
master of the rest. 

A ( onstitution is a Bupreme law alike obligatory upon 
the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial depart- 
ments, and upon the whole people; to be violated by 
Done, aii«l to be changed only by common consent. Of 
this, or anything like this, they have absolutely nothing in 
England. Parliament, which is controlled by the aris- 
tocracy, may enact what law it will. The veto-power of 
the king has bceu abandoned for many reigns and many 
generations, and ia dead. Whatever Parliament enacts, 
every executive officer, every magistrate, every judg , 
every Bubject, m si regard as law and obey as law. The 

i K ! id" is therefore a king 

who reigns lition that he will 1»«- only a pageant 

aii'l doI a kin;:, and whose kingdom is utterly destitute of 
a ( institution. 

The fervent loyalty fell for the occupant of the throne 
exerts, it has beeu already said, great influence iu preserv- 
ing the social order of England, as it is. That i-. in 
preserving the sovereignty of the aristocracy ; and there- 
fore the aristocracy do all they can t«. confirm and inflame 
this loyalty, by their ardent expression of it. and by Biir- 
rounding the throne with splendor. Their king must be 
only b : but they are glad t<» make him the most 

ificenl of : II"- time maj come w hen this 

loyalty may perform a higher function. It may be among 
the possibilities of the uncertain future I land that a 
king \\ ho \\ ishes to be more than a pageanl and is willing that 
hi- people should have their rights Becured to them by a 
supreme law which -hall In- a law for them, for him. ami 
for all. may find the middle classes weary <-!• ashamed 
of their subserviency, and tin- laborers of England stung 
by misery into resistance; these three may combine and 
their uniou !»»• cemented by loyalty t<> the king. Then, 
the aristocracy will find their usurped power wrested from 



.17 



SLAVERY. 



their hands. The people of England will know, and will 
acquire and secure, the rights which belong to them. And 
the phrase, " the constitutional king of England" will have, 
what it has not now, — a meaning. 

The social condition of England is consistent with a vast 
amount of moral worth, with individual and national energy, 
and with all the splendor and grace Avhich intellectual ability 
and culture of the highest order can impart. All these 
are there, abundantly and certainly. I do not doubt in the 
least that all are there ; I am only endeavoring to state 
and illustrate the principle which runs through them all. 

Our fathers were Englishmen. They brought with them 
English blood and character, — although not then precisely 
such as these are now. I cannot enlarge upon this differ- 
ence, nor consider the modifications these elements of char- 
acter must have undergone while more than six generations 
have lived and died under circumstances very different 
from those of the English people. But we remained her 
colonies, and politically a part of England, until we won 
our Independence. Since then we have not been politically 
her colonies. But we have stood in what was very near to 
a colonial relation and dependence in other respects. Her 
mind and her manners and usages and judgments about 
men and things have influenced ours in a degree and in a 
way that few of us have been aware of. I certainly was 
not. Therefore I consider this war a second war of In- 
dependence. That chain is broken, at all events ; and its 
links can never be welded together. I hope that the anger 
which now exists may pass away, and be succeeded by 
kindness ; and I hope we shall learn to make due allowance 
for the governments of Europe. The growth and pros- 
perity of a nation founded upon Consent must be a con- 
stant menace, and an ever-growing peril for institutions 
founded upon Compulsion. If our institutions attract to 
us the sympathies of the governed classes, so much the more 
must they repel the governing classes. We should indeed 
ask of these governing classes to be more than human, if 
we ask them not to look upon our institutions with dislike, 
our prosperity with jealousy and fear, our perils with hope, 
and our decay — if that shall come — with rejoicing. 

Let us be just to the aristocracy of England. Their 



SLAVERY. 33 

hostility to th< free States and their sympathy with the 
slave States, astonished, grieved and angered us. But 
lei 11- n..t forget that the suppression of the rebellion and 
the restoration of our prosperity under a constitutional 
government, would be, for that aristocracy, a peril, only 
it' less, than the rebellion itself is for the United 

I hope this war will complete our independence of Eng- 
land. For with the most sincere acknowledgment of great 
and various excellence in the English character, I am 
<|nit<- Bure that her influence has been, on some important 
i s, quite injurious to us. 

Servility includes the two ideasof the sentiment of ser- 
vility on the part of those who look up, and the love of Ber- 
\ ility on the part of t h< »-«• who look down. And no doubt we 

have imported a g I deal of servility from England. ( >f 

the love of servility in those who look do I up we 
are not quite rid yet. W I all cordially accept the 

principles of American institutions as those under which 
liether we like them or not, as long .1- we 
I th.it son* 

much discomfort, in the vain effort t<» establish for our- 
Belves and our households, habits and relation- which we 
can no more import from England than we can import 
limate. I have been amused to see some persons 
trying to live, as to their habits of food and clothing and 
exercise and exposure, as they do in England, and because 
they do so in England. This i- of no great consequence, 
mischief com.- from the endeavor to insist upon 
I ish relations, where the effort can produce only con- 
tinual irritation. Class-rights cannot flourish here If 
: m\ readers happens to know a man who seeks to 
all within hi- reach as his servants, and all his 
servants as slaves, I am sure lie knows a very uncomfort- 
able 11 

I rvility which look- up, we are pretty well 

r id. \\ sec it ncldoin, except in new-comers, who 

lit the habit with them, and have not yel learned 

their American lessons. But they learn these lessons 

Perhaps thi y do not learn, perhaps they come 

cl 1 where ii might, at present, be difficult to learn, 



34 SLAVERY. 

what should take the place of servility when that passes 
away. The best lover of his country will hope that it may 
pass away. But he will also hope that as it passes away, a 
recognition of the rights of others, fidelity to duty, the 
love of usefulness, and courtesy and kindness and civility 
will take the place of servility. 

Some at home, and more who visit us, complain of the 
manners of this country. So far as I can judge, our 
manners are, in the main, good. It is not fair nor rea- 
sonable to apply to them the standards of foreign usages 
or of factitious refinement. The true test is, are they, in 
general, expressive of a courteous and kind feeling. I 
think they are. ^Ve meet sometimes with coarseness and 
rudeness ; but equally in all classes of society ; and in 
every class it seems to me an exception, and not the 
rule. 

But I am not so well contented with another charac- 
teristic of our country. It is the feebleness of the 
sentiments of Kespect and Reverence. It is difficult 
to speak aright of these topics, and perhaps I ought 
to distrust my own conclusions. I will only say that I 
should be glad to see my fellow-citizens treat each other 
with more Respect ; and manifest more respect for many 
things, and among them, for place, office, function. These 
exist only for the good of society. This is their end, 
however imperfectly it be attained, and however it may 
be concealed or obstructed by self-seeking and self-love in 
all their various forms. But it is certain that this end 
must be imperfectly attained, if the rights which belong 
to them are not honestly acknowledged and Respected. 

And so as to Reverence. Of this I would say even less. 
But the common consent of all times has ever declared 
that age should be held in Reverence ; that the paternal 
relation should be held in Reverence. I will only ask is a 
sentiment of this kind very strong and general among us ; 
is it stronger in this generation than in the preceding ; 
was it stronger in that than in its predecessor ? I will let 
others answer. I fear some may answer, it is not strong, 
and that is well. It is growing weaker, and that too is 
well. 

But <ill the Reverence I have spoken of is nothing, in 



-I I VERY. 

comparison with the Reverence a\ lii«h is dne t<> God. I 
do not fear an avowal that this Reverence also is a poor 
and foolish thing; but I do fear, that in point of fact, it 
is, in general, a feeble sentiment. 

We live in an age of marvellous prosperity : of an ac- 
tivity of the human intellect and an energy of human 
action, and a perpetual progress in discoveries and in ulil- 
izing discoveries, which has had no precedent in history. 
But ii is also a characteristic of the age, that the idea i 
has quite too little distinctness ■>• in any of the de- 

partments <>t' human 1 1 1 • > u lt 1 1 1 : and, mosl of all has this idea 
disappeared from politics. This word Beems to mean at the 
ard for the mere material interests of 
in. mi : and, at the lowest, gambling with the mind- ; 
passions of men for the cards, and pul.li or the 

public purse for the stakes. This conditiou of tlti 
to me like one where the Sun is d 

which there is do light from o li'_rht but that 

of the lamps \\ e make, and ; . w iili Qur 

condition, w hich git es us litl hope 

for much wisdom of opinion, conclue lion. 

Were I to permit myself to dwell on this subject, it 
would be with especial reference n> the godlessncss of that 
spirit of reform, which i- bo powerful among us. I low many 

g 1 and earnest men I know now active in their conflicts 

with the demon of Intemperance, and the worse dem 
I . and, i" bring the matti to my - j > ♦ ■ < • i t i c 

topic, with Slavery itself. I>'» they enerally, to 

walk an«l work in the light of the truth that if their 
work be a good work, it must I" vork : and that 

if they would work with Him. they must work a> Mis 
instruments, and in His own wa : ["his conviction 
would leave them zealous to be His instruments; to d<» 
His work ; to hasten the time : to open the way. But it 
would cause, I think, a great change in the manner of 
their working. How much more cautious would their 
conduct be : how much kinder their words : how much 
less hatred would th.ir word- express and excite ; how 
much more, and how much better, would he their 8U< 

This characteristic ot the time- seems to me more .-ad, 
and more alarm luse never yet was there bo much 



36 SLAVERY. 

need of the recognition of God, as at this day, anion"- us. 
What else can have power to quell the raging storm aud 
bid the heaving sea of passion be still, before it wrecks the 
best hopes of our country, and of our race. 

I will not permit myself to pursue this topic. I will 
say only, for the few, if there be indeed any, who would 
follow out this train of thought in their own minds, that, 
in my judgment, constitutional Republicanism cannot enter 
upon its completion and consummation, until it becomes a 
Theocracy ; and that it is not, in very fact and deed, ad- 
vancing towards its completion, when it is not advancing 
towards this end. Let not those who are startled by this 
word suppose I mean a restoration of the old Jewish 
Theocracy. In the Theocracy I desire, the altar will not 
be built with hands, but will be in the heart ; the offerings 
will be of acknowledgment, obedience, and reverence, 
and love. The House of God to which we shall go up, to 
worship our Father and listen to His answers, will be His 
Word, in which He dwells forever. 

And what of the conflict, which I began with saying 
was in some way caused by slavery ? How will it end, 
and when will it end ? 

I do not deny that there is much which would lead me 
to fear that vices and falsities prevail among us, and are 
so indurated by time and habit and our past prosperity, 
that we may need a long period of distress and discipline, 
aud may now be only entering upon a cycle of suffering, 
which in its intensity and in its length will equal the 
years of our prosperity. 

But my hope is stronger than my fear. I think I see 
much among us that is good, and that is earnestly seek- 
ing to be better. Much that shows, that if we have 
abused our prosperity in part, we have also, in part, 
used it for our own good and for the world's good. And 
then I believe that we shall succeed. That Rebellion 
will be suppressed ; that the value and force of our Con- 
stitution will be proved ; that our loyalty will be en- 
lightened and invigorated ; and that by all these means, 
a firm foundation may be laid for a wider and loftier 
prosperity than we have yet known. 



LEAg'12 



